


The Sense That We Are Better Together

by xXxdemon_bois_loverxXx



Category: Rooster Teeth/Achievement Hunter RPF
Genre: Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Bullying, Denial of Feelings, Disability, Divorce, Eating Disorders, Multi, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Rare Pairings, Self-Hatred, Slow Burn, Soulmates
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-14
Updated: 2020-01-23
Packaged: 2021-02-27 05:48:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 12,164
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22252117
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/xXxdemon_bois_loverxXx/pseuds/xXxdemon_bois_loverxXx
Summary: Soul Stealers. A cute little nickname the media likes to call your soulmate. This is because of the fact that if you have a soulmate your missing something about yourself.Follow Matt and Michael as they realize that it's okay to rely on one another. Jeremy and Geoff realize that they can find love after heartbreak. Gavin, Jack and Ryan, as they realize that their biggest missing thing in life is each other.
Relationships: End goal Matt Bragg/Michael Jones/Jeremy Dooley/Geoff Ramsay/Gavin Free/Ryan Haywood/Jack Pattillo, Gavin Free/Ryan Haywood/Jack Pattillo, Jeremy Dooley/Geoff Ramsey, Matt Bragg/Michael Jones, Trevor Collins/Alfredo Diaz
Kudos: 13





	1. Matt & Michael - My Future Broken Heart

**Author's Note:**

> This was made because I wanted more fanfics with Matt being the MC. Each chapter will change time lines from Matt/Michael to Jeremy/Geoff and lasty to Gavin/Jack/Ryan.
> 
> Btw I got no beta so be wornd theres probably spelling mastakes.
> 
> Also disclaimer! Because of the nature of this fanfic it will be includeing people with disabilities. I'm sorry in advance if I mess up portraying them. I only have my own mental disability to base this off of.

Not everyone has a soulmate. Or specifically not everyone has a piece of them taken by their soulmate. Only about half the population has one.

You don't need to to have a soulmate to fall in love, in fact most people don't. Even the people with soulmates rarely ever even find their other half. Most people just live out their life and find someone there attracted to, that's it. Even if they do have a soulmate, and are missing a crucial part of them, most just live with it.

It's a big thing in movies. The guy goes on a long treacherous adventure to get to the girl. His soulmate who will complete him. Struggling against the disability she bestowed upon him unwillingly. And when they finally reunite they are both feeling so complete. 

Media likes to make it seem like this is the norm. You'll find your other half and you will be fixed. That it will happen and you'll better person from it. Your special if you found your soulmate.

You see in this world there are two different types of people. People with soulmates or as the media likes calling them Soul Stealers. Cute little nickname for the fact that if you have a soulmate you are missing something. It could be anything but physical about you. And the only way to ever retrieve it is to be around your soulmate. Being around them returns it to you, and for a short while after you're near them. You'll never truly have it fully but being near your soulmate grants it back to you.

And the normal people, the normal people who did not have a soulmate steal a piece of them. Though it is highly debated if in fact these people even have a soulmate. It would not make sense that over half the population could not have a soulmate if the other half does. Though why would only half the population of soulmates steal something about them. Though there is no way to tell.

Most people who do in fact have a Soul Stealer can most likely tell what they're missing. It can be as simple as not being able to see a colour, or not being able to hear out of their left ear, or even not being able to pronounce a word. It can come in many different forms and it's generally really easy to tell what you're missing. 

Add to the fact that for some reason your soulmate and you have a theme. If one of you can't see red the other one can't see blue. If one of you can't hear out of your left ear the other one can't hear from the right. If one of you can't say the word happy the other one can't say the word sad.

Most people can figure out what their soulmate has stolen from them at a very early age. Parents usually get doctors to check their baby as it grows up see what's different about it. Generally once the kid goes to kindergarten, the parents know what they're missing.Though sometimes if it's not very noticeable part they are missing, they could go their whole life without knowing that they have a soulmate. That never really happened now a days through.

~

When Matt was born his parents did what any parents would have done and checked him for soulmate. Although they themselves we're not soulmates or had even been Soul Stolen, they knew they needed to check.

After years of going to be checked, doing many numerous difference Soul Steal finding exercises, it was concluded that he was normal.

There seems to be nothing wrong with him at all. He was just a normal person or at least from what it seems like he was. The test could never be 100% accurate, but they were very thorough .

So Matt grew older knowing about soulmates and knowing that he didn't have one. That he was not part of the lucky 50% of the population. Though as a child it didn't really bug him that much.

He honestly didn't have much of a care in the world for many things otherwise his family and video games. Sure he wasn't the most popular in school but that didn't really affect him that much. If he ever felt down you could always just take out his Game Boy and play it while no one was looking.

Besides seeing it on TV and in movies, and I guess in books, he didn't really think about soulmates or Soul Stealers that much.

He was fine with just being that quiet kid in the back of the room that just stayed by them self and didn't bother anybody. And he did stay that up until grade 6 when everything changed for him.

You see that grade was particularly tough for him because his aloof and distant nature had brought upon him the one thing that is so stereotypical. He had a class bully who picked on him. 

The bully did all the known tropes to him. He made sure that Matt was disliked by his fellow classmates. Calling him rude names and telling everyone to stay away from him. He pushed him over and punched him. Did any type of physical injury could, because he knew that Matt was too much of a pushover to say anything.

Matt did what Matt did best, he pretended it wasn't happening. He just ignored it, hoping that pretending it wasn't going to happen was just going to make it go away. It didn't though, it just made him so very lonely.

Even though before he was the class loaner, who just played video games underneath his desk, he did have friends. People he would talk to about Pokemon or any other game he was playing at the time. He could connect to these people and form small friendships.

But this was all gone now. He had no one and for once he really did care that he did. Even the most introverted person needs someone, and the bully had taken away any person that could be them.

So right now he was just sitting on the swing. The park was mostly dead because it was quite a bit after school and most people have gone home by now.

Matt would have normally been on his way back to his home by now. Dying to get as far away as possible from his school. Unfortunately for him he couldn't. Well he could if he really wanted to, but he didn't want to risk it.

Earlier that day he was shoved quite nastily when he was on the blacktop well on recess. This was an act that was unprovoked but was quite common in his day-to-day life. What was different from normal was that he landed in a bad spot. He had smashed his face off of a nearby bench, resulting in a bad goose egg on his head. It was very noticeable and a dark colour. It hurt really badly when he got it.

When he went back to class his teacher didn't really seem to care that much about it otherwise a passing ask about it. Where he could quickly he lied about falling on his own accord. Something he was known for doing.

Once he would go home, things would be different. His parents had been asking him about the injuries he had been getting lately. And blaming it on his clumsiness was not going to cut it any more.

Matt had been saying that they were just accidental injuries caused by trips and falls. When obviously this was not the case and his parents knew it. He had known that if he came home one more time with a bad injury his parents would be talking to the principal.

This could not happen. If it did his life will get worse. If his parents told them, then the bully would be confronted. This all would make everything ten times worse. He would be known as a tattletale and would be called a bitch.

People would avoid him even more than they would now. That was something he did not want to happen. If he could avoid it and just keep on ignoring the situation, eventually the bully would get bored and he could start getting friends again.

So this is why he was sitting where he was. He didn't know what to do, there was no way he could hide his injury. He didn't have any sort of hat to cover his head, though even if he did his parents would notice eventually. So he was out of luck.

He was just buying his own time, staying on the swing pretending like he didn't need to be home. Like he was stuck in a real pickle that he couldn't get out. That life was about to get way harder for him.

So he just sat there pretending like life was not going to go on. That it was going to stop right here now and everything will stay in the state. Not the best, that's sure, but not worse.

But life seemed like it just wanted to kick him when he is down. So it did continue on and it continued on in the worst way possible.

Another push, straight off the swing. This time resulting with him going face-first into the ground, easily breaking his glasses.

Well now he really didn't know what to say to his parents when he got home.

After rising to his knees, he looked down at the now two pieces of glasses. He brought them out to his face to really look at the fact that they were broken. He was hoping that maybe he was so blind that without them he just missed saw it.

“Man this is the second pair in 2 months, how am I going to explain this away?” Matt mumbled to himself, still staring down at the broken glasses in his hand.

“Wow that push really broke your glasses? You really need to get some better glasses if they break that easily. They are poorly made just like you,” Seems like the culprit was, unsurprisingly, the person who was bullying him.

Why was he here? It seems like he was just there to torture Matt. He could have sworn that they were not there for the last while. Apparently they were though and they want the make Matt's day extra bad.

Matt just kept on looking at the ground. He silently put his glasses into his pocket knowing that they were no use for him right now. It's not like you could put them back on in the state they were in. 

“Are you seriously going to just sit there and pretend I'm not there,” the boys sneered at him. “This is why I'm doing this Matt. It's the make you grow a spine. Just look at you crying on the ground like a little baby.”

Matt wasn't actually crying but the bully didn't seem to care. All he really cared about was making Matt's life miserable, even if his insults were very poor.

Chancing a look up Matt looked around him to the bully. He was very blurry but he was right behind Matt. Standing there intimidatingly trying to look tall and towering over him.

It was working, Matt felt like an ant being crushed by a shoe. Though this was first metaphorically it soon became literally as the bully shoe came down on his back.

This forced him forward once again, making him squeeze his eyes with pain. This was the third time he had bumped his head in the day and it was starting to feel quite dizzy. Matt hope he didn't get any sort of brain damage from this.

“Look at you, I'm squishing you with my foot and you're doing nothing. Fight me. Come on do it. Do something, anything but sit there like a crybaby.” The teasing was coming from above him. It seems like with every word the foot on his back gained more pressure, making him stay with his face to the ground.

He cried out silently as he tried pretending like this wasn't happening. It will go away. It has to. He'll get bored.

“Hey can you guys quiet down there, you're stupid fighting is annoying me.” A new voice said from over near another swing. This voice sounded quite annoyed about what was going on beside him.

Struggling as best as he could, he looked up at the new voice. It seemed to be a kid around his age, though he knew he wasn't in his class. He had dark red curly hair and a scowl on his face as he seemingly look down at them. Though something was wrong you could tell he wasn't actually looking at them.

Oh that's what it was. He was one of those with the soulmate that took his vision. 

Matt remembered the first day of school. They had assembly about Soul Stealers and how they can cause a kid to have disabilities. They then talked about how to be tolerant around the kids that had disabilities that stop them from acting how you normally think they would. Be it how they speak or how they can't respond to something. Or in Michael's case, the person near him, not able to see.

Everyone knew Michael. He was a firecracker loud and in your face despite the fact could not see. He rushed into fights and fought with others constantly. He did not care that he was at a disadvantage, if you made him angry he would let you know.

He did not like people giving him help. He did not want to be treated like a special little snowflake. Despite the fact that he had an individual learning plan he tried to deny any help he was given. Though with some things he had to get some help with.

He had a special teacher that taught him separately from the rest in the back of the classroom. So most people didn't interact with him much. When you did though it was an uphill battle trying to get him to befriend you.

Despite all this he did have friends, ones that only liked him for his fiery attitude and ability to beat people up that he didn't like. Even Matt was pretty amazed that he could do all this despite his disability. 

Though the two did not have a class together. They had two different teachers so they did not see one another very often. In fact Matt had only seen Michael a few times. Before either being brought into the principal's office after fight, or seeing him in a fight.

Either way it was not a good situation and Michael was a person that Matt stayed away from. He did not want another bully on his hand, especially one who could beat him up with no remorse .

So at this very moment after seeing that it was Michael that was yelling at the two, Matt knew his only option would be I just put his head back down. Hopefully if he just did nothing the two would forget he was there and leave them alone. Just please leave him alone.

Luck wasn't on his side it seemed. 

His bully decided for some unbenounced reason that he could in fact talk back to Michael. "I'm just squishing this rat. What's it to ya?" The bully responded. No things are about to get a lot tougher.

" Oh, is that so? Well if that's the case why don't you do that somewhere else."Michael now had a quite annoyed tone to him. Please don't fight him, I'll get put in the cross fire, Matt thought to himself.

"Nah, I don't think so. I quite like it here." The bully said back to Michael. At this moment the pain on Matt's back was gone.

It seemed like Michael had drawn the attention of Matt's bully. He was now walking over to Michael. It seems like they were probably about to fight.

Well at least the world was giving Matt some type of brake, if they did that he could get an opportunity to escape.

It was hard to tell because of everything being so blurry without his glasses, but it seemed like as soon as his bully got near Michael he got punched. Maybe he wasn't expecting it right away, because his blurry form was easley punched in the face by Michael.

“Oh man, it's true what they say, little blind boy has a bite.” The bully said between gritted teeth has he brought his hand up to his face. Then in a fit of rage he went over and grab Michael by the shoulders.

Using all the power he had, he pried Michael off the swings and through him towards the ground. Michael obviously not understanding or expecting this bully style of tossing people to the ground, was easily thrown.

He was thrown directly on to Matt. Making the two hit heads against each other, dizzying them both.

Now to take you away from this moment for a brief minute, we need too talk about soulmates a little bit more. When someone has a soulmate you would never be able to tell who they are with unless they touched.

One could go years living beside their soulmate but have never touched them. So they would go on not knowing that they were soulmates. Being together in the literal sense is the strongest way to bring back what you have lost. And it all starts with a simple touch between two people.

So once Matt looked over at Michael after being dazed from their collision, he noticed something weird. He noticed Michael's eyes. They were moving about I'm a way he had never seen on Michael before.

Like he could see with them, or at least partially. The eyes moving around rapidly taking in everything that was going on.

"Wwhat just happened?” Michael mumbled to himself in disbelief. “I can sort of see things, why can I see things?” He then looked over too Matt.

Their eyes locked as they stared at each other. One of them in complete disbelief and the other incomplete amazement. Matt was freaking out and Michael was excited

“Are you my soulmate, my soul stealer?” Michael asked him in a very disbelieving voice. Not breaking eye contact he took his hand and grabbed onto Matts, holding it very tightly. To remain touching him.

No this makes no sense Matt didn't have a soulmate. He knew that he would never get one. He knew this was true because he did not feel any different. 

Surely this had to be a huge mistake. If he was Michael soulmate he would also be realizing something for the first time when he touched him. He would have something crazy like Michaels eyesight returned to him. But nothing. This had to be a mistake.

A broad smile appeared over Michael's face, he looked happier than Matt had ever seen him before. Obviously this must be a big deal to him. Just imagine going your whole life without being able to see then one day you can, and it's because the person you're supposedly supposed to love the most touched you.

Oh God this was too much for Matt. Who couldn't help but closes his eyes. He wanted to crawl into a ball and pretend that none of this was happening.

Only a few moments after closing his eyes he was pulled up. It seemed Michael who still had a grip on his hand was pulling him onto his feet. The two were now standing up side by side, hand in hand.

“I don't even know your name, but you just gave me something I've always needed back.” Michael was still staring deeply at Matt. He seemed to be in a trance, like no one else was in the world but him.

Though this was obviously not true. It was just that Matt was the first person that Michael had ever seen. So of course he would stare him down. Seeing him was literally mind-blowing for Michael, that's all. No one ever cared enough about him to look at him this long.

"Well uh my name is..."

" Well isn't this nice. The quiet little loser from the back and the loud mouth with no brains are soulmates. You guys make a grate couple! Of idiots!" The moment between them was broken, though for the case of Matt it was more silent panic.

Michael turned his head over to the the bully, he had a quite sour look on his face. It was quite clear that he had forgotten about tbat person being nearby. It seems like he wasn't a big fan of what was being said.

“Watch your fucking mouth. Dont know how you numbnut can even think you can speak up to me like that." he started walking over to the bully. Still holding firm on to Matt's hand. Like it was a lifeline he could never get rid of, which was kind of what it was. “I don't know how you can understand what's going on but not really. If you think that I could kick your ass before when I was blind, now that I can see your ugly mug I can kick it twice as hard.”

The bully look nervous for a moment. He obviously knew that right now he was probably barking up the wrong tree. That right now it probably wasn't a good idea to continue fighting Michael. If you had half a brain he would know the stop what he was doing.

Obviously though as a person who spends his free time bullying someone, he wasn't very smart. So thinking he was this Intimidating bad entity, I pushed his luck.

“Why should I listen to a couple of fags?"

That was the straw that broke the camel's back.

Matt felt the tight grip on his hand loosen and soon fall away. Michael was charging straight at the bully. It seemed he was out for blood for what he just said.

Matt couldn't really understand what was really going on right now. He had never had someone there to defend him. Even though Michael was defending his own name as well as Matt's, he was still doing it. Having someone care about him, otherwise his family of course, was unheard of to him.

He watches Michael ran up and punch the bully square in the face, knocking him down. A loud thump was heard as he came crashing down, it sounded quite painful. Matt couldn't help but wentz as he saw what happened. 

Michae,l sparing no moment, walked right over to the bullies side. He gave him a quick glance before bringing his foot up and smashing it upon his hand. This obviously broke his hand.

" Any other smart-ass comments you have to say?" Michael was just teasing him as he ground his foot down.

Now normally Matt was not one for violence. As with the rest of his life, his opinion was to avoid and pretend it wasn't happening. He didn't like being near it and he didn't like causing it. This didn't stopthim though from just standing there and letting Michael break the bullies hand. They gave him a small bit of sick satisfaction see him suffer. To see the person that brought so much sadness to him finally get his just desserts. To see the bully, who has brought upon numerous different bruises to his body, get his own bruises and broken bones.

Then just like it's swiftly came on feeling soon disappeared. He knew that this was wrong even if the other was an ass. He should probably tell Michael to stop.

“Michael..”

” So you never did tell me what what is your name?” this was said swiftly and without Michael even looking up from the person he was practically torturing. He was giving him a few kicks as the bully started to curl up in pain.

“Matt. Matt Bragg?” he answered slow and in a questioning voice, like you didn't know his own name. 

Michael stop the kicking and gave the bully one final kick. “If I ever see you even look at my soulmate Matt the wrong way again, you'll have more the worried about then just a broken hand.”

Then he looked back at Matt. Their eyes locking once again. The connection between them building as he could see the happiness in Michael's eyes. The eyes that apparently he had just given back to him.

The eyes that... made no sense to him. How could he have given back the eyesite of a soulmate that he's stolen from, when he did not have a soul mate. There has to be some terrible misunderstanding. This did not make any sense to him. 

Matt thought about his life up until this point. All the things he had done and the way he thought. None of it seemed out of the ordinary. Nothing seemed out of place. Even the small things about him, like his bad eyesight or his antisocianess, was all still there. He had nothing about him that magically got fixed once he touched Michael.

He felt exactly the same, and for once that was the worst thing ever.

“So I was thinking, and I know this might be rushed, but maybe you can go over to my house? My mom should be picking me up soon and her jaw will hit the floor that I felt my soulmate.” Michael started to ramble to Matt. A small visible blush started to spread across his cheeks. His hand nervously being brought up to his hair as he rubbed it through. This was a side of him that Matt had never seen. “I feel like she'll probably start crying and then I will, maybe even you. God I'll be horrible but I think she was really worried about me. About me never finding you and always being struck with this stupid disability.”

Oh no. He couldn't do this. He couldn't stand there and get praised play overjoyed mother that he fixed her son. Not when this all was clearly a big misunderstanding. Claiming he was Michael soulmate. This was all way too fast way too soon. So he did what he was best at. He ignored it and he ran.

“That sounds great Michael, but unfortunately my parents are really strict and I need to be home like now. I don't want to get in trouble by them you know?” He tried this lame excuse trying to get out of the situation.

“I'm sure your parents can understand, I am your soulmate after all, this is a big deal.” Michael now looked hurt, like Matt had just kicked a puppy. His eyes where big and wide, something matt I've never seen on them. 

It broke his heart a little bit seeing him like this, but it had to be done. He needed time to think this over. He didn't know if you was over looking something about him or if this was some horrible soulmate mixup.

“ Yeah no. I don't think so. They're like really super strict. I'll talk to them about arranging me going to your house tomorrow, but today can't work. Can you please understand?” he gave him a desperate pleading look. Hopefully Michael will allow him to continue this tomorrow.

Loud sigh was heard as Michael seemed to visibly shrink down. He glanced to look at his hands then at Matt. He looks so incredibly sad at this moment. Then his eyes started to get that distant look in them. His vision was being taken away from him again. Not touching Matt anymore was causing it to disappear.

“I'm going to miss it. Everything. But I understand I guess. I don't want you to get in trouble because of me. And even though I want you to be here so I can see again i... I'll give you space you need." Then his face twisted in a forced smile as he tried to pretend what just happened didn't happen." but tomorrow you can't stop me from bringing you home." 

With that Matt left the park. Leaving Michael behind to stand alone by himself. Waiting for his family to come pick them up.

The walk home for matt wasn't a long one, about a 10-minute walk. This one was the longest one he had ever had. He felt so bad. For everything he had done, for what he had just put Michael through. He could imagine how it felt. Having something so important as your eyesite being brought back to you only for your horrible soulmate to just walk away. To walk away because he had internal conflict. 

To walk away because he felt like this was wrong, that he was somehow lying to Michael about being his soul mate. Michael didn't deserve such a horrible stupid anti-social soulmate. One that was probably defective and just stringing him along.

With this in his mind he didn't really notice that his body had just walked on autopilot and he had made it home. Or at least to the front steps. Where he, because he wasn't paying attention, tripped on the first step and landed face-first against the door.

A loud thud like knocking came down on the door as he hit it. Soon after the door was opened as his mom looked down at him. He was relatively fine, otherwise the fact he was adding on to the multiple head injuries he had gotten that day. His mom was obviously panicking though seeing her son injured.

At least this covered up for the fact that he still had the goose egg on his head. He wasn't going to be questioning him about any bully, so at least that was one worry off his chest for now. But there was a much bigger worry and this one was going to eat him up all night.

~

The next day of school came quicker than he could have thought. So much so when it got close to the time he had to go he made up an excuse to stay home. He told his mother he felt dizzy and like fainting. 

Of course she let him stay home. She cared about his health. Checking up on him constantly and making sure he was fine.

Matt was just lying to her and betraying her trust. 

He had a quiet day at home.That is externally, instrumentally it was like a war was going off in his brain.

He was thinking about everything slowly going over every piece of his life. Every important day he could remember. Every horrible day he could remember, and seeing if anything was gone.

Nothing seemed to be. Comparing the about 10 minutes of his life where he supposedly was to be complete to everything else, nothing was different. It made him so very sick.

It was wrong just wrong wrong wrong wrong. How could he possibly bE Michael soulmate.

He had to just tell him, tell Michael that this was a big mistake. That all of this with some fluke.

He would grab on to Michael's hand and give one more inner looking at himself. And if nothing was different he would just tell him. Play everything as it is on the table. 

Hopefully Michael won't hurt him too much when he finds out that he defended Matt for no reason.

And the day slowly passed. Matt trying to forget about his worries by playing games and it not helping. So much to worry about, so little time.

And then it was the next day. Matt did not feel ready at all. As much as he thought he was mentally preparing all yesterday, he wasn't. He wished he could just stay home forever. Never talk to anyone else again for the rest of his life.

That wasn't going to happen though, he needed to go to school. He couldn't keep on lying to his parents about being dazed. He couldn't betray their trust anymore.

So before he knew it he had made his way to school. He was currently on the sidewalk in front of it. Watching kids walk by him in to the building. 

The first bell rang, he had five minutes until class would start. Matt had to get going. If he had half a mind he would have come to school early today.

Despite the fact of his panic he did need to find Michael to talk to him. It would make more sense to meet up with him before school, so if things went south he could run to class. Obviously this wasn't going to happen. He was too busy with his inner turmoil and left for school late.

Well he had nothing to do but just talk to Michael at lunch break. Hopefully he can get him to a private place to talk. 

*Riiiinnngg*

Shit that was the class bell. Matt ran to class.

He barely made it to his desk before the pledge of elegance played. After that he quickly sat down into his desk.

"Matt Bragg! Tarty I see? I'm going to write that down." His teacher told him before writing something down. Oh good now he was in more people's bad books. Just grate.

The morning started to pass normally. Math was first period and it drag on. So much so that Matt's mind drifted to Michael. About everything, about how Matt's going to crush him.

Bad idea. He needed to stop worrying about it. He should just pretend it's not happening till lunch, when reality will come crashing down.

Looking up from his paper he was pretending to write notes on, he looked around the room. There had to be something to distract his attention.

His bully wasn't in his seat. This made sense really. Who would go to school when his hand was broken? That brings up a good question though. Michael did something that was grounds for expansion. Matt saw the whole thing. Why wasn't Matt called in to the principal's office?

Michael was not in Matt's class so he couldn't see if he was even in school.

Could his bully be so self-entitled that he wouldn't tell anyone that Michael beat him up? It was a possibility.

Then Matt noticed something that was even Stranger Than This. There was eyes on him. In fact most of his classmates were either blatantly staring at him or giving him sneaky side eyes.

Okay what was going on. No one even gave him the time of day normally. Not really even acknowledging his existence unless his class bully was encouraging them to bully him. Most of them probably didn't even know his name was matt.

But here they were staring deeply at him. Some with looks of disgust and anger. Weirdly some of them actually had a look of fear? Who would possibly fear mat. He wasn't intimidating at all.

Matt quickly looked back at his paper. Hopefully his classmates didn't notice him looking back at them. She didn't want to accidentally start something with them. Something must have been truly wrong if they were paying attention.

Oh God did they know about what Michael did to the bully? About what Michael was to him ?

Or did they know the truth that he was a fraud, that he couldn't possibly being Michael soulmate. No that was impossible. Matt was just... Psyching himself out.

Bang

Just then the front door of his classroom came crashing open. This was very shocking to everyone in the room. Most flinching at the sound and some screaming, including Matt.

Michael was at the door, and he looked pissed. It seemed like smoke was practically coming off of him. 

He ignored the teacher yelling at him about the door and yelled straight over to Matt. He did not care about anything around him.

Oh God he was here to get Matt.

Matt quickly closed his eyes and scrunched into himself. This was going to hurt. But he deserved it and hopefully it'll be over soon. 

Just like last time, nothing happened. Oh yeah Michael was blind, he probably couldn't even walk over to Matt less he talked back to him.

He open one of his eyes to see that Michael was still standing there angrily but patiently.

" Matt I know this is your classroom, I need you to come over here right now." Michael said with a very annoyed tone.

Matt silently started to get up and walk over to him.

" Matt Bragg sit back down. You're not going anywhere," His teacher all but yelled at him. She was very angry that Michael had disturbed his class.

" You can eat one you old bint," Michael growled back towards her. " Now Matt get your ass over here, I don't have all day." If Michael could actually look at Matt he was sure he would give him a deadly look.

So ignoring his teachers warnings he walked over to Michael. A very strong grip grabbed onto his hand pulled him out of the room. 

Michael was like a bull charging forward, he did not care about what was in front of him. Luckily for him because it was class time there was no one in the hallway. But it was quite impressive set Michael seemed to be able to see where he was going.

Oh yes. Matt was giving his him his vision wasn't he? At least this proved that what happened the other day wasn't a fluke. Matt seem to be triggering his soulmate.

Well this wasn't the way he wanted this to happen. He was hoping it would be less dramatic but at least he was with Michael. He could tell him that something was wrong. 

First though he needed to take one last look. Was anything fixed about him? Michael's problem was his vision so Matt's had to be something similar, right?

But no. Nothing changed. Everything was exactly the same. This time he knew it for 100% sure.

Something small in him that had hoped that the first time was just a mistake broke. He had silently hoped that he had just not notice something. That something small just flue under his radar. He would just realize, oh yes this one thing I never thought of is back. Now I can be happy with Michael knowing that we are truly soulmates. This did not happen obviously.

Matt had... Something wrong with him. And it wasn't in the way he truly needed.

Soon the two came to a stop as Michael pulled Matt down. They were under the stairs, a place well hidden from everywhere else. Some place that Michael was known to frequent in.

An arm soon came around matt shoulder as he was pulled in to Michaels chest. The grip was strong on Matt holding him firmly in place.

"I'm sorry for my anger I just needed you here," Michael mumbled into him.

Matt wanted to say something but he didn't really know what to say. So a moment of silence passed between the two. Matt in his usual panic state and Michael just sitting there with his eyes closed. He actually seemed quite content.

” I thought you were not coming back.” Michael quickly started without even looking at Matt. “I know it's crazy to think that you would just leave and not come back to school but I couldn't help but think about it. Every time something good happens in my life it's gone just as quickly as it came. So it came as no surprise to me that when I finally found my soulmate they would leave me too.” His voice was very quiet and sad sounding. It broke Matt's heart.

“No it's not like that,” Matt responded back lamely. “It's just that I didn't feel so good after what happened to me so I stayed home. I was trying to get better." Oh good Matt was lying again. Was this going to be his new default?

Michael tilted his head and leaned it against Matt's. He closed his eyes and a happy little smile came across his face.

" I'm so glad you're back. That brief moment where I could see everything was the best moment of my life. If being around you means I can get it back I want to be around you constantly."hHe gave Matt's had a little rub.

Abort Mission he couldn't do this. He couldn't tell Michael that this was all wrong. He just couldn't. He couldn't break this man even if he was going to have to lie to him.

" I'm glad to be around you too. Oh and thank you for protecting me the other day." Matt tried to keep a chipper voice as he lied to him.

He sounded so fake.

“Oh no problem. I'll beat up anybody that even looks at you wrong trust me.” Michael then gave him a big goofy grin, “Oh by the way I wanted to ask you, what are you missing? What did I give back to you?.”

He needed to lie and quickly. Without any thought he said the first thing that came to mind. 

“I was colorblind. Red-green color-blind.” Hopefully that was close enough to blindness that Michael would think it made sense.

” Really? Man then I really draw the short end of the stick. It makes sense though, they're both eye problems. It's just, damn I have no vision and you just get some colours mixed up? You're a lucky bastard.” This was said with little to no heat in Michael's voice. Matt could still here the underlying bitterness behind it though.

Matt didn't feel so good, his chest hurt. He hated to lie. But he couldn't not do it.

Matt then came to the realization that is best course of action, that will cause the least amount of casualties, was just to go along. He will just be there and give Michael his eyesight back. Even though he knew that it truly wasn't true, at least he could be helpful for Michael. Give this man back something he deserved. Even though being around him made Matt feel sick to his stomach. At least one of them was happy. It didn't matter that wasn't Matt.

" I need to ask. Why is everyone looking at me weird today? And shouldn't you be suspended? What's going on with that?” Matt couldn't help those questions flow out of his mouth.

“Well to put it simply, I told everyone. Yesterday at school before I realized you weren't there I yelled it out to everyone. During lunch break when everyone was getting food I stood upon the desk and yelled that you are my soulmate and that I would destroy anybody that tried to even harm you.” Then looked he away bashfully from Matt. “It was only after the fact that I realize that's probably not the best idea. Sorry I'm really hot headed and I didn't really think it all through. It's just I heard someone shithead talking trash about you and I just couldn't help it.” Michael was looking deeply at matt again with a weird look in his eyes.

He really wished Michael would stop doing that.

“I guess it's okay. You were just looking out for me, something no one's done before, well I guess excluding my family.” Matt brought his hand up to his face and move some hair from in front of his eyes.

“Oh yeah speaking of which! Did you talk to your parents can you come over tonight? I haven't told my mom about you yet and I really want to surprise her. Is that okay?” Michael sounded so happy. How could matt say no this time?

"Yep I'm all good to come over tonight".

The dark sick feeling in his stomach got worse


	2. Jeremy & Geoff- Out Of My Mind

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We start off on the Jeremy and Geoff plot.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Like usual I don't got a beta reader so all matakes are my own. Hopefully you enjoy this mess.

Deep dark nothingness passes along him.

This is how he always slept. Nothing there to feel in his dreams. Just a monotonous void deep in space.

Time felt like it was creeping slowly. Every minute in the real life equal to an hour in the dream, or at least that's how it felt. 

Nothing.

Nothing nothing nothing nothing.

His life was nothing. He had nothing. He was worth nothing.

The one light that was in his dreams had long gone out.

It had been so long since that light has been there. He craves having it back, he needs to have it back.

It will never...

Light?

There seems to be something new. Something that was never there before. A new light.

A different light, with a different glow. 

As suddenly as one came up another one did.

Then another one.

Then another one.

Then more and more and more.

Till There Was six lights in front of him. All of them with a variety of different glows. All of which were a comfort to him.

All of which beckoned him.

One of which was familiar, but he ignored it. He didn't trust that one anymore.

So he reached out to the closest one, a light with a faint but with everlasting glow. His fingertips barely touched it before everything went bright.

*doo doo doo*

And has his eyes opened, he did not remember the dream. Jeremy never remembers the dream. Once his eyes were open all that was gone to the wind.

So much for cryptic dream messages.

Anyways, Jeremy had to get up. He had to get ready for the day. If he wanted to get a paycheck and not lose his job he had to get out of bed.

But he really didn't want to. It's not like he didn't like his job, in fact he loved it. He was a swim coach at the local YMCA. 

He loved teaching the kids how to swim. It was always amazing watching the kids learn a new ability. Even if dealing with a really young kids could be a pain sometimes. It wasn't that bad of a job.

Anyways back to getting out of bed. He should probably get out of bed to get ready for the day. But it was so comfy and warm. If he could just lay there for a few more years and forget everything, that would be great. Just fantastic. Absolute tippy toppers.

With a big grown Jeremy got out of bed.

The moment his feet hit the ground he quickly recoiled them back up. It was so cold on his wooden floor, and his warm feet didn't want to touch it. But nevertheless he had to truck on. He put his foot back onto the cold ground. He really needed to invest in some sort of slippers.

He got out of bed with a big yawn, stretching his back as he did this. He needed to stretch the sleep out of him.

He quickly looked down at his bed and decided he wanted to make it now. No. It's not like anybody's going to be in his room, so he doesn't need to make his bad. Now that Jeremy thinks about it, no one's been in this apartment except for him.

Well that doesn't matter, all that matters now is that he has an hour and a half to be at work!

So off to the shower he goes.

He quickly gets in and sets the temperature to hot. Doing his things he sort of automatically goes through the normal procedures. 

Everything was going swimmingly before he saw it. The thing he sees every morning in his bathroom.

That damn bottle of shampoo. 

He doesn't even need it. Don't have hair on his head, hasn't for years. But yet he still keeps that in his shower. Just sitting there looking non-threatening to most, but a horrible looming threat to Jeremy.

God if he ever told anybody about this he would be the laughing stock of the town. It's just shampoo, get over it.

But yet here he is staring at it. It's not even that old, maybe about 3 weeks old. When he bought it, he definitely didn't need it.

He got it out of desperation, plain and simple. After a particularly bad moment, he just felt so horrible. So lonely and unloved he needed a reminder of the good times.

So after getting blitzed drunk he end up going to 24 hour store where he stumbled to the back. The area were they kept the life products. The area where they had that shampoo. It was very expensive for the brand, convenience store price. He bought it though.

He bought it and as soon as he got home he tried to smell it. He opened up the cap and took a deep sniff. 

He can't smell anything.

He knew nothing was going to happen. It's been like that his entire life, he had been sold stolen.

He didn't have his sense of smell. He can't smell the contents of the bottle.

He tried though, because it reminded Jeremy of him. Reminded him of the person who had brought back his smell.

The person that every time he was near Jeremy couldn't help but bring his nose into his hair. To smell the shampoo in it. The lovely smell that came of the softness of the hair.

The lovely smell that came with the person that made literally made him complete.

The person that left him for another man. The person that turned his back on him, that didn't care that they were soulmates. The person who broke his heart.

Now jeremy knew who his soulmate was and knew that he would never be with him. He would never be with a person he truly was supposed to be with.

That damn shampoo. He immediately threw it in the garbage not caring that he made his bathroom floor wet when he whipped open the curtains.

That waste of his money. Why did he even buy it anyways?

But he had said that the last time and the time before. He knew in the future he would probably end up doing it again. He was stuck in a horrible loop of his own pain.

Fuck.

He needed to get out of the shower, he had been in there for way too long.

After drying off, he picked up his phone and checked at the time. Shit he was in there for 30 minutes. He really don't have time for this right now.

Jeremy quickly went into his room and got changed. Making sure he had his uniform all ready and packed in his bag.

Going outside his bedroom, he had a quick breakfast. He couldn't leave the house without having something decent to eat.

Then after putting on his shoes and making sure he had everything on him, he left his house for the day.

When he got home he had to throw the bathroom garbage out. Well that's a job for future Jeremy. Present Jeremy had places to be and in no time to dwell on past Jeremy.

~~~

His day passed like every other day after this point. Nothing much interesting happening at his job.

Just the normal job of teaching kids of various different ages how to swim. It was quite fun to play with the little ones. Teaching the older ones advanced techniques was also cool to do. Even if he'd done it over and over again, the job didn't really bore him.

Plus the fact all his co-workers we're great people and fun to talk with. They were the only people Jeremy really hang out with outside work.

After his last group of the day, Jeremy made his way to the back to change room. He had to get out of his work clothes and back into his normal everyday clothes. It was winter time and if you wanted not to freeze his butt off he needed to put something not wet.

So he showered to get the chlorine off him and went to go change. After quickly doing that he left the change room and bumped into someone.

Oh hey it's Alfredo!

Alfredo was one of his co-workers that he got along with the best. Alfredo taught and looked after kids for various different sports. Mostly the outdoors types like Soccer.

“Sup Little J, what are you doing?” Alfredo asked him.

“Oh you know the usual. Just got off my last shift so I'm heading home.” Jeremy easley replied to him with a shrug.

“Cool cool.” Alfredo then grabbed his phone out of his pocket. He looked down at it and started texting something. Jeremy thought for a moment if he should leave, but right before he did Alfredo looked back at him.

“Hey if you're free tonight you want to hang out with me and Trevor? Trevor's been talking about hanging out with you again soon. And it seems like you don't have any plans so??” Alfredo asked Jeremy as he pocketed his phone.

Oh yes Trevor. Probably one of Jeremy's closest friends. He met him through Alfredo and the two just got along so well. The two could just hang out for hours together, doing everything yet nothing. Talkin about everything, and just enjoying each other's company immensely.

Trevor was actually Alfredo's soulmate. The two had met each other by accidentally bumping into each other on the street. Apparently they were both too busy on their phones and didn't even notice each other. But once their heads knocked they realize they were soulmates. Trevor who could not cry, wept tears of pain. Alfredo who could not yell, screamed out in pain after their collision. It seemed that there soul-stealer bond theme was about pain, and the reactions to it.

"Hang out with Trey? Sure I'd be totally down, don't got much plans for tonight,” Jeremy was happy that this was going to go down. He hated it when he had to be a home by himself. It was so lonely. That's why he always tried either make plans with people, or to go to a bar.

He just hoped it would not end like last time.

Let's just say that the two get really overly lovey dovey. Whenever this happens Jeremy's reminded about what he would never have. It makes him feel sick. Like he needs to get a drink right then, to forget.

“Okay so Trevor is getting out of school soon. He's going to drive over here and pick us up, then we'll head over to our apartment.” The two of them started to walk outside the building. It was starting to get later into the day, the sun had just set. “I was thinking maybe we could pull out some board games to play. I feel like we haven't play The Red Dragon inn in forever.”

They then made their way to the bench outside of the building. It was quite cold out so Jeremy pulled his jacket tight around himself. Hopefully he didn't have to wait out here too long because he didn't want to freeze.

“Honestly I'm so glad that you're down the hang. You always seem to brighten up Trevor when he is around you . And let me tell you lately he's been stressed." Alfredo looked a bit tired as he said this. “You know he's in school to become an engineer, it's killing him right now. Everyday he comes home stressed because of assignments. I just do whatever I can to lower the stress levels you know?”

Jeremy just nodded his head in agreement. He didn't know the tripes of university yet. He hadn't pursued higher education, let alone such a hard one as a Civil Engineer. He did hope one day soon he could save up enough money to potentially pursue a higher education.

" It must be tough," He responded lamely to Alfredo, not quite knowing how to respond.

" To be honest though it's actually worth it. I actually quite like being his rock, calming him with my presence. Like I'm literally his shoulder to cry on. I'm his biggest stress relief and it makes me so happy. I love him with my entire being. He is my soulmate, the one that completes me you know? I'm happy when he's happy, and we are both happy when we are with each other. I just... Love him so much, I don't know what to do with he wasn't there.`` Alfredo now had a goofy smile on his face as he thought about Trevor. He was completely lost in his own world.

So much so he didn't notice Jeremy or how he was reacting.

It was so silly, completely unrealistic how he felt. He shouldn't be feeling like this, like shit. Like he was drowning beneath a pit of Blackness.

It was just Alfredo talking about Trevor. Talking aboutthhere true connection. About their Soul Bond that made them the perfect person for each other.

He just hated it when either of them talked about something like this. When the two got too mushy and started going on about their soul Bond.

It brought back bad memories that Jeremy just wanted to forget. Just please go away.

Jeremy could say something to them about it , he should say something. 

But he would not say anything. It's stupid, he's not special. Lots of people have not met their soulmate or had lost their soulmate. They're dealing with it, why can't Jeremy?

He shouldn't put his problems on to his friends. Even if he really wanted to tell them about what he's been through. That it hurts him hearing about this.

God he's pathetic. No wonder he got left behind for the other person.

Jeremy needed something to distract himself, so we picked up his phone and checked his messages. Nothing.

“Are you okay Jeremy? You seem to be crying over there, is everything okay?” So of course he is, and of course Alfredo notices. Guys too much of a nice person to ignore Jeremy's pain. Jeremy stupid pain.

“No it's okay Fredo, it's nothing,” Jeremy tried deflecting the conversation.

Alfredo looked him straight in the eyes. He was being very serious. “No it's not nothing tell me what's wrong. You're my buddy I want to help you in any way possible.”

Alfredo should stop being such a great guy. Caring too much about Jeremy. He was a friend that Jeremy felt he didn't really deserve.

Jeremy knew he couldn't lie to Alfredo. “It's just been a long day Fredo .” 

Well at least partial truth should be enough. It's not like he was full on lying to him. He couldn't do that.

“Like a bad shift or something?” Alfredo questioned him.

“Yeah I guess something like that. I've just been having a bad while, you know? Life just being rough.” Jeremy leaned back more on to the bench.

Alfredo then decided to lean closer to Jeremy. “If that's the case then you need to be cheered up just as much as Trevor. I'm going to make sure tonight's great, we're going to have so much fun.” Alfredo then put his arm around Jeremy and gave him a half hug.

Soon Trevor's car pulled up in front of them and the two got in the car.

Trevor was super excited to see Jeremy. 

Jeremy tried to match the excitement at seeing Trevor. This normally would be easy for him, but right now he didn't feel quite up for it to be true.

Tonight is going to be a long night, he could feel it. And it wasn't because he was in bad company. It was because what that company represents.

~~~

The night went on exactly like Jeremy thought it would. With Trevor and Alfredo trying to have fun with Jeremy and Jeremy just being a downer. It is just so hard to be so happy around the literal embodiment of the thing he lacks in life.

It was not their fault. Trevor and Alfredo wouldn't even know that they where doing something the set Jeremy off. They're just living their perfect little life, and being happy about it. Being together forever through the ups and downs.

Then there was Jeremy all alone. Alone to never be with his soulmate, because hos soulmate didn't care about him.

Alone to sit a bar by himself.

He made it about 2 hours into hanging out with the two. It was fun or at least the two tried to make it. They had snacks and board games, also some Bev's.

This didn't matter though because Jeremy was in a sour mood. Because he couldn't stop thinking about it. 

So Jeremy came up with a lame excuse to leave their house. It was something like needing to get home to do some laundry.

It was honestly surprising that the two had bought his lie. But maybe it's because the two wouldn't think that Jeremy would lie to him. Why would they ever think that Jeremy needed an out. So thinking that he had to leave to do laundry was a perfectly understandable reason to them.

But of course this wasn't actually what Jeremy was wanting to do. What he really wanted to do was do the thing that he always did when he felt like this. Go to the bar and get plastered. Gets so drunk he forgets about his worries. Feel happy for a few hours before he had to go to sleep. Before he woke up and had to face the reality.

That was why he was where he was. Sitting at the bar sipping his drink. Trying not to look like he was just here to get messed up. He didn't want to look like that person just that just came to get drunk when they were sad.

Obviously though the people that worked here know. How could they not, he was a regular. A regular that only came when he felt low.

Jeremy looked around the bar. The place was really nice I had it out homie feel, or maybe that's just what he thought cuz he was there so often. It honestly had a nice peaceful ambience. A place you probably would like to hang out with his friends. The food here was pretty good as well. Plus the drinks weren't too expensive.

His eyes lazily went over the different patrons at the place. It was only a Tuesday night so it wasn't very busy. There were a few people there though, mostly colleagues hanging out after work. Or groups of young people hanging out with their friends. Most other people in the bar we're with other people. Well excluding the one person that was sitting a few seats from him.

Now that Jeremy thought about it, that guy was always there when Jeremy was here. The funny thing is though, the guy never actually buys any alcohol. He mainly just gets Diet Coke and food. Why would you even come if you didn't want to get drunk?

Oh to hell with it, he was already quite a few deep, might as well ask him.

“So I always see you here but you're never drinking, what's the point of even coming?” Jeremy asked the stranger beside him. Who looked up surprised at Jeremy, like he didn't expect him to ever talk to him.

“I guess it's just because... I don't know I'm friends with the people that work here? Because I like hanging out here ? I have fond memories of here? I don't know man but it's just fun as dicks to be here," the person responded back to him. He then took a sip of Diet Coke and then turned his body completely over to Jeremy the talk to him better.

“I understand all that but why the no drinking thing?” Jeremy was now very curious about the answer to this now.

“Well I swore off alcohol a few years back, so I just don't drink? But let me tell you I drank a shit ton before. It was Mega unhealthy, killing my inside, you know? Plus the fact that after my divorce I was drinking way to unhealthily, I just needed to stop." The Stranger responded back to him, taking another swig of his Diet Coke.

"Oh sorry to hear about the divorce" Jeremy responded lamely not knowing what to say to that.

“No it's fine, it's not like it's your fault. Honestly it was mine, but I'm over it. It was a clean divorce, and I'm a better man now. A better man who doesn't drink away his problems.” The stranger was now looking at his hands, like he was remembering something. 

Jeremy then notice something about his hands. He had gloves on them. More specifically the gloves someone wears when they don't want to meet their soulmate.

To pause the narrative for a second, I have to talk about soulmates again. You see in this world, some people just don't want to meet their soulmates. There's different religions and beliefs that's soulmates are just lies. That they don't need their soulmate to complete them.

Not meeting your soul stealer will make you a better person. That you should wear special gloves to protect your hands never meeting your soulmate.

You should just follow your heart and not just what you had bonded to you. That you were your own person and you did not have to listen to what was told to you.

Honestly Jeremy thought it was pretty silly. Why would you ignore the person that you were truly meant to be with? There was a reason the other person completed you. Why would you ever want to ignore your soulmate? Even if they broke your heart.

Jeremy drink more of his drink. It was probably stupid but he wanted ask about it, about the gloves.

“So did you start wearing those after the divorce? I don't want to pry or anything but I know that's a thing. After living your soulmate putting on those gloves to never bond with them again.” Hopefully this person wouldn't get too angry at Jeremy being too bold.

“Oh what?” The stranger looked confused for a second before looking down at his hands. “Oh yeah these. I don't know man I have just been always wearing them. My parents wer a big no-no on soulmates. Both of them were just normal, we're not soul stolen. So when I was born and they found out that I was, they said I had to wear the gloves. That I couldn't let that define me. I guess I just never took them off.” he said all this back to Jeremy and gave him a shrug. “It definitely wasn't because of the divorce. She was not my soulmate, but she was the person I thought I loved.”

“So if you don't mind me asking, what are you missing? Like it's weird that you're so okay with missing something about yourself. Is it something simple? Like I don't have the abilities to smell and on most days I feel like I could live without it." Well excluding when he felt like he needs a smell a smell he longed for. But this person didn't need to know this.

“To be honest I think mine's more of an upside. I lost the ability to feel pain, or feel anything to be exact. It's sort of a plus side to me, when someone tries to punch me or I get a tattoo, I don't feel a thing. It's honestly pretty amazing. It's like I'm a superhero or something.” he then gave Jeremy a shit eating grin. "The only downside is if I accidentally cut myself I don't notice until I see the blood. But that doesn't matter because I don't feel thing.” He then gave jeremy a wink and some finger guns.

Man Jeremy had never found someone that was so happy that they had not meet their soulmate. It was actually quite comical how different he was then Jeremy.

His outlook on life was completely different. 

“But what if you didn't meet your soulmate? Wouldn't you be happy that you were with the person that completed you?” Jeremy questioned him. It honestly didn't make much sense.

“In my opinion, you should just what makes you happy. As long as it's not self-destructive that is. If I'm happy with someone that isn't my soulmate then cool. If I'm happy with someone that is my soulmate, then bonus. But it's not needed.” The stranger then leaned back in his chair as he brought his Coke up and took the final step from it. He then waved over the barkeeper and ask for another one.

“I guess I kind of see what you're going for, it is good to keep yourself happiness above all else.” Jeremy then leaned on his hand looking at the stranger closer.

The stranger was actually pretty handsome, with a scruffy face and lazy blue eyes. He was covered in tattoos and was wearing a black graphic tee with some sort of melted popsicle on it. He sort of look like some sort of punk dad.

“It's like this bar. I come here to hang out with people, to get some bitching food. It doesn't matter that I don't come here for the alcohol, I come for other things. It makes me happy.” This was true. Every time Jeremy saw the stranger he was always having a great time. Either talking to other patrons or the owner of the bar. Eating the food and poking jokes that everybody else. “ You on the other hand come here just to get drunk. No offense but I'm more observant than you think. I see you come here just to get smashed and leave. It's not in a fun hangout way either, I can tell it's because you want to forget. I know cuz I was the same way.”

The stranger was now staring at Jeremy with a sad look. Like he knew what was going on with him. Like he knew the pain that Jeremy had gone through.

Maybe this man did, or at least in a certain way, know the pain that Jeremy had gone through. Maybe he would be the perfect person to open up about it. Get experience from someone that was in similar situation.

"Yeah you hit the nail on the head. I come here just to drink when I feel down. Thinking about my soulmate and what they did to me.”

“Well whatever they did to you, they're an Asshole. I have only known you for a little while now and I don't think I've ever done something horrible to you. You seem like a nice guy, I can't begin to think about what happened to you. But I understand the after effect, and I don't want you to go down the same path as me. So maybe lay off the drinking for the night? Trust me your mind and body will thank you for it.” He then pushed over his drink that he had not touched. Calling over the barkeep he got his tab and paid it. 

“Yeah you're right I drank too much already, I should lay off it.” Jeremy said as he looked down at his empty glasses. He had drunk a bunch. Maybe he should drink this Diet Coke instead of ordering more alcohol for himself.

“That's the spirit man. Don't overdo it.” He then gently put it a hand on Jeremy shoulder. With his other hand he handed Jeremy a business card. “If you ever want to talk about it just call me at number on there. I understand what you're going through more than you think. Sometimes you just need to talk to someone about it.”

The stranger than walked towards the front door. Before he exited it though he turned around to Jeremy one more time. “ And the best time to just sit down and talk to someone, is when you're getting a tattoo,” After this was said he left.

Maybe Jeremy should go home to, it was getting quite late. He did have work tomorrow and he already knew he was going to be hungover when he woke up in the morning. He should probably get as much rest as he could.

He called over the barkeep and paid his tab. Giving them a big tip.

Before he left he looked at the business card. It read:

Geoff Lazer Ramsey 

Owner of the Tattoo Parlour PopSick.

Then the address and a phone number for the place.

Well Jeremy did always want to get a tattoo, and based off of the ones the stranger, or I guess Geoff, he had a pretty good taste in them.

Maybe on his next day off he should book an appointment.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading :V


End file.
